Life As We Know It
by Makone
Summary: 17 Year old Pan travels nearly 20 years into the past with a mission to save her world... GohanxVidel. Tentative plot so R&R.


Welcome, once again, to my head. First off, to Pan fans, I have never read any Panfiction. I have no clue how her personality is usually depicted. If any of you are Panfiction experts, I apologize for any unintentional butchering that might occur; though I feel she is going to be pretty damn awesome.

Also, I'm not taking this idea from anyone else. I plan to make this a rather unique 'Pan goes to the past' plot that I hope you all will enjoy.

So, read and review as always. Flames, compliments, constructive criticism of any sort, just tell me what you think and what you want to see.

Enjoy

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Life As We Know It

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She placed one foot out of the TimeCapsule, gingerly at first, allowing the churning dizziness to subside. The world around her still inadvertently spun, pulling the ground from beneath her hesitantly planted foot and lurching breakfast from the depths of her stomach. She squinted her eyes and raised a hand to block the searing rays of the sun. Her eyes gazed around her surroundings noticing the large boulders, the jagged mountains, the tufts of crab grass and weeds scattered throughout the serpentine crevasses.

Her second foot soon followed, crunching the loose gravel and releasing a puff of dust into the stagnant air. She took a deep breath and exhaled, lowering her hand to her side.

_Well,_ she thought, _that was rather anti-climactic_.

For some reason she thought time travel would be flashier, perhaps with a loud BOOM! and some psychedelic colors or something. Instead, a pop, a jolt, and a lot of spinning somehow managed to transport her almost twenty years into the past. Hell, she didn't need a fancy gizmo's help to spin her around in circles, but she did desperately need something to stop her from re-discovering her farewell breakfast.

Groaning, she rubbed her half-bare belly and the arched her back, stretching.

With a suppressed burp she reached down and pressed the storage button on the unwieldy yellow contraption. It exploded into a cloud of smoke, transforming into a small capsule that she caught with ease.

As she expected, her back pocket began to vibrate with a vengeance, so she reached back and retrieved the communicator. She flipped it open and smiled.

A fuzzy picture of Bulma crackled onto the screen.

"Pan? Pan, can you hear me?" Bulma calmly questioned threw the static.

"The signal's weak, Bulma. I can barely see you," Pan inferred.

"Okay, hold on a second." Within a few moments the static faded giving her a clear view of twenty years into the future.

"That's much better," she quickly confirmed.

"Good, so what is the-," suddenly the blue haired woman's eyes grew and onto the small screen flew her grandmother, shoving Bulma aside with retribution.

Bulma shoved back fighting for camera space. "Chill out, ChiChi!" she grumbled.

"Pan! Pan?" ChiChi screeched, picking up the camera on her side and shaking it furiously. "Are you alive? Pan?" Bulma shoved again. ChiChi pulled pack, punched her in the face, and called her a heartless fro-freak.

Pan winced, "I'm fine, Grandma; a little nauseous, but fine."

ChiChi gasped and turned to yell at Bulma who was angrily pulling herself off of the ground. "You hear that? My baby is nauseous! You made my baby nauseous! She should come home immediately!" ChiChi shook the camera again and shouted to Pan, "Come home now! You hear me, Pan? The mission is off!"

Pan sighed and rolled her eyes and was about to reply when Bulma quickly shot back into the screen and tackled ChiChi, sending the camera crashing to the ground.

After a moment of grandmotherly chaos the camera began to rise and turned, showing her mother's annoyed face.

"Pan, I'm sorry you had to see that."

"I'm just sorry I'm not there to watch, Mom," Pan chuckled. "Who's winning?"

Videl glanced back over her should and said, "Bulma's smashing ChiChi's face into the floor repeatedly now, but I wouldn't worry, ChiChi has a lot of rage."

Pan laughed to herself, understanding the depth of that comment.

"Once the nausea subsides you should head out towards the first designated location and begin the primary phase. Are you still feeling up to it, honey?"

"You can trust me, Mom. Don't worry." Her words were forced, as Videl probably knew, but they were both trying to comfort one another. Pan was simply trying to convince herself that she wasn't going to let them down.

"That's asking a bit much, Pan. As your mother it's my job to worry." Videl sighed, grinned and reluctantly said, "Now go ahead kick my ass."

"Yes ma'am." Pan paused, "So, I guess I'll see you in a bit." She winked.

"Pan, the double entendres are getting old."

"Sorry, Mom." She bowed her head and wished her Dad could be here to wish her luck. "Just trying to lose my jitters."

After finishing their good-byes, Pan closed the communicator and placed it once more in her back pocket.

_I guess it's now or never_

She looked up into the sky and sucked a deep breath into her lungs, letting it linger along side the growing seed of doubt. The butterflies in her stomach were present as ever, fluttering up her throat and defiantly into her heart. She gulped, trying to wash away the bitter fear of failure. Her mouth was dry but her palms were dreadfully sweaty, itching to do something wrong.

Pan lowered her head and raised her hands to eye level, clinching them into tight, stubborn fists. With a stern Satan determination she ground her teeth and rebelliously huffed.

She wasn't going to let anyone down.

In a flash of light and cyclone of dust and gravel she took off into the sky with ease of body, difficulty of mind, and a storm of spirit; dejectedly nervous of what was to come.

---------------------------------

Just another _glorious_ day as The Great Saiyaman.

Videl spun and kicked another robber towards Gohan which he caught and casually threw into the pile with the other unconscious masked gunmen.

"I think that was the last one," Videl said, brushing the dirt off of her white T-shirt.

Gohan sighed with boredom, "Can I a least get _one_ next time? This is so boring."

"Your choice, Saiyadork. If you want to break your end of the deal…"

"No, no. I guess I'm not that desperate yet." Gohan cursed himself for even thinking of this arrangement, let alone following through with it. It seemed like such a good idea at the time.

"Because if you really want me to find out who you are, I'm sure I can oblige," Vide mocked. She enjoyed torturing the masked idiot. He may have his fancy light shows and showy tricks, but she practically controlled him. The deal: she would not try to find out his secret identity as long as The Great Saiyaman stayed out of the limelight and left all of the crime fighting to her.

Of course, she broke her end of the deal long ago, but what the village idiot didn't know didn't hurt. His naivety was miraculous.

The police arrived at the pile of robbers and began cuffing and taking them into custody. Gohan miserably shuffled over to Videl, head hung low, mumbling to himself. She pulled her chin up and put her hands on her hips. "Ah, Saiyaman, what a wonderful day for stopping crime; don't you think?"

Gohan mumbled a 'sure, whatever' and then kept walking past.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Keeping his back to her, he limply raised his hands into the shape of a twisted pretzel, "To patronize this here soft pretzel booth."

She had to admit, he did look pathetic.

Videl smiled. The worse Saiyaman felt the better she did. It was evil, she knew, but she couldn't help herself. It's just how she worked.

"Thankyou, sir," Gohan said as the wide-eyed pretzel man handed over the tasty morsel.

In one fell swoop he shoved the entire soft pretzel into his mouth.

The savory lack of flavor was comforting, until an unearthly explosion rocked his eardrums. The pretzel caught in his throat as he turned to find the cause.

"What the hell?" Videl questioned as black smoke appeared on the horizon. She stood back, gazing in amazement. The smoke slithered into the sky, slowly and sluggishly, yet holding more vehemence than she could bear.

Suddenly another explosion rocked the city, closer this time. Videl staggered backwards, catching her balance on a nearby light pole. She gripped it and watched in confusion. Buildings collapsed, sending debris and a whirlwind of dust into the surrounding streets, overtaking the scrambling bystanders.

Another explosion, again and again.

Soon, she stopped counting.

Smoke rose quickly, consuming the sun, darkening the sky. Sirens began to sound of fire trucks and dispatching ambulances wailing in mournful loss to those who are helpless. The earth trembled once more, nearly pulling the ground from beneath her feet.

Her eyes swiftly fell and landed on Saiyaman, standing firm and rigid. He hadn't moved; part of his pretzel was still hanging out of his mouth. His arms were flexed, his posture unyielding.

"Saiyaman!" Videl shouted over a strong gust of wind emanating from the epicenters. Fires began to light up the sky, painting the smoke with emblems of a radiant orange and a rage of blood red.

He didn't turn to look at her. He was concentrating.

How the hell could concentrate at a time like this?

"Saiyaman!" she yelled again in vain, her voice cracking from forgetting to swallow. Her lungs gasped for fresh air as the fiery heat rode the relentless wind. Then, out of nowhere a blazing ball of yellow light shot from the sky, heading strait for her position. Without a second thought she ran and dove off to the side, hitting the ground hard and covering her head.

The light hit the lamp post, causing it to explode and creating a crater in the pavement. Another ball appeared in the sky, ominously aimed at Saiyaman. It lingered, as if tempting her to change her already made up mind; giving her second chance. Ignoring that fleeting thought Videl sprung off the ground and sprinted towards Gohan, breathing hard, the adrenaline coursing through her pulsing veins.

It was dark now. People were in the streets, panicking, running, screaming. The crowd was growing, becoming as thick as the smoke.

It was like a bad dream traveling in slow motion, giving her time to rethink her actions but no time to change course. The only possible emotion was regret.

She arrived, grabbed onto his cape and pulled him towards her. His jaw was set hard, his mouth grim. She shook him relentlessly and yelled in his face, but he still remained oddly stoic. Videl latched onto his arm and tried to pull him out of the way.

As the light grew closer she had no time to regret her decision, only to act as time slowly crept by.

He was confused. Gohan felt it; something strange. A power he had never felt before that consequentially seemed abnormally so familiar. It left him immobile. He just didn't understand the chill that rode his spine.

From the corner of his eye he noticed Videl, holding on to his arm, frazzled and bleeding, screaming and pulling.

As she pulled on his arm she pulled him back into the present. As if out of nowhere he felt a ki blast directly above his head. He wrapped his arms around Videl and phased out, reappearing next to the squadron of cop cars.

Her eyes were wide as she exhaled a pent up breath.

The blast exploded sending shrapnel in all directions.

Gohan looked down at Videl and said, "Get out of the city, now."

He looked up into the sky and sniffed, smelling the burning city, the rancid panic. In an instant he was in the bloody sky, rocketing towards the power source.

She stood stunned for a moment as time reset to normal speed, realizing that she was alive; realizing that Saiyaman just gave her a direct order that she had an obligation to ignore. "Hey!" Videl shouted angrily. "Wait for me!"

She turned around, sprinted back to her JetCopter and franticly climbed in, not wanting to be left behind. She took off towards the explosion's direction.

Her heart was racing, exploding through her chest. This would certainly be a nice change from the usual, everyday crime fighting.

She forced the JetCopter to go even faster. Perhaps she would have normally grinned in this sort of situation, but Saiyaman's lack of idiocy gave her the chills. He was grim, stiff.

Gohan quickly landed at the source of power, not seeing anything but feeling everything. His red cape blew in the wind, crackling and whipping through the clouded atmosphere. The building to his right had crumbled to the ground, falling into the large crater in which he stood.

Whoever did this was ruthless.

Gohan growled.

"It's about time you showed up." The distorted voice came from atop the rubble to his right.

Videl landed the JetCopter not far behind Saiyaman and hopped out, not bothering to turn it off, adding to the barrage of hot wind. She ran to his side and noticed a small form standing atop the collapsed building.

She squinted, trying to make out the figure. It was wearing black with both its head and face covered. It was incredibly small, almost like a female form. She was about to run towards it, thinking it was a civilian in need of saving. Saiyaman, however put his hand on her stomach before she had a chance to move.

"I told you to get out of the city," he growled.

She glared up and said, "Since when did I ever listen to you, jerk?"

"Will you stop being stubborn for one moment and just listen to me?"

"Oh, please! Who died and made you king?" Videl retorted.

A distant mocking chuckle rode the burning wind an arrived to their ears. The black form drew closer. Gohan stepped in front of Videl and secured her behind him with his arm. She refused and struggled to regain her position.

The black figure spoke, the voice strangely distorted.

"Aw, how cute." The figure paused and raised its hand, creating a deadly yellow orb that pulsated with the panicking city. "Cute, but pointless."

As Pan let the ki blast explode from her palm, she prayed her mother and father would dodge.

* * *

Mwaha. Oh no! Pan's destroying the city! She's CRAZY! 

Anywho… just a quick intro. Tell me what you think. We'll see what happens with this one.

Makone.


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